The bar charts below show the average of annual working hours and the average duration of holidays in five European countries.
Sample Response
The bar chartsgraphs outline the average annual working hoursaverage duration of working hours and holidays in France, the UKUK, Finland, Germany and Switzerland. Generally speaking, Germans work more hours annually and enjoy the shortest holiday durationleast duration of holidays and the reverse is true for the working hours and holiday ratio in Switzerland. The first bar chart showsThe data in the first bar graph reveals that Germans have the highest number of workingoffice hours, around 1,900 hours per employee per yeararound 1900 hours in a year for an employee, significantly more than a Swiss employee workswhich is significantly higher than that of a Swiss employee. The least working hours could be observed in Switzerland which accounts for 1200 hours per person per year. An English work for over 1600 hours per year which is around 1500 and 1600 for French and Finns respectively. The second bar chartgraph shows that, despite recording the highest number of working hoursdespite having the highest working hours, Germans have the least duration of holidays, 120 hours annually. Interestingly, Swiss employees have the longest holidaysare offered the highest holiday duration despite recording the lowest annual working hoursin spite of their least duration of office hours. The duration of holidays is almost the same in the UKEngland and Finland, roughly 140 hours140 hours roughly, but it is around 155 hours in France.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response gives a clear overview of the inverse pattern between working hours and holiday time and supports it with relevant, largely accurate figures for all five countries. Its main limitation is uneven language control, including awkward references and a malformed comparison sentence. The highest-priority improvement is to express cross-country comparisons in fully controlled sentences while retaining the concise, data-focused coverage.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview identifies both extremes, and the details cover all five countries with relevant, largely accurate figures and comparisons.
Add the exact Swiss holiday figure and make the middle-country comparisons more explicit to achieve fuller precision.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically from the overview to working-hour and holiday details, with generally effective linking between comparisons.
Use clearer referencing in comparisons so expressions such as "the reverse is true" point to precise relationships without momentary ambiguity.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and appropriate for describing charts, although a few choices such as "office hours" and "holiday ratio" are imprecise.
Prefer exact chart language such as "annual working hours" and "holiday entitlement" instead of less natural substitutes.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex structures is used, but several errors in sentence formation and reference reduce control without obscuring the data.
Proofread subject forms and comparative clauses, especially the sentence beginning "An English work", to ensure each comparison has a complete grammatical structure.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The bar charts below show the average of annual working hours and the average duration of holidays in five European countries.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.